Open Your Eyes
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred and seventy-three:  POV SWAP ON #287  Quinn comes to the rescue of a very dazed and confused Jesse after a slushie to the face.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 17th cycle. Now cycle 18!_

**YEAR ONE ANNIVERSARY CYCLE!** - It has now been one year since I've started this Gleekathon, and I had a thought that I should do something special for it. So this is what I did: Selecting from the start of it all to the end of august (well, I had to plan! ;)), I picked my 21 favorite one shots. A number of those I was very attached to, but left sad to see may have fallen through the cracks, so it seems fair they should be recognized.

The 21 stories were split in three categories: **POV swap - Prequel - Sequel**... I think that goes without saying ;) In no particular order... **Today's story** is a POV Swap on #287 "Odd Directions" a Jesse(/Rachel) + Jesse/AU!Quinn story originally posted August 4th 2010.

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**"Open Your Eyes"  
AU!Quinn/Jesse **

She felt good about the way things were. Part of her felt she shouldn't, with all the drama she'd been in the middle of, but… She was happy, and now people knew, so she didn't have to hide anymore. She wouldn't go and throw it in people's faces, but she wanted to be able to live openly.

It wasn't like she'd planned for it to happen; it just did… She'd certainly tried to forget about the signs early on… But denial had only taken her so far and then it couldn't be denied no matter how hard she tried to tell herself that she was with Finn, and she was in no way attracted to that Jesse from Glee Club… She couldn't see how it was…

They'd fought it, they both had. In both cases, it had to do with Finn. On her part, obviously, they were together and he was so good to her… But then on top of that, Jesse and Finn had been becoming such good friends that he'd fought it, too… But they'd given in, and then the guilt only grew. They wanted to tell him, but they didn't know how. Only then someone had taken the choice out of their hands… They didn't know who had put that note in Finn's locker, but her money was on Santana, after the deal with Puck… She'd find a way to prove it.

She saw him then… Not Jesse, but Finn. He saw her, too, and they both stopped, looking at each other from across the hall. But then he frowned and walked off, shaking his head. Quinn didn't try going after him; he needed space.

After the revelation had nearly cost them Sectionals, she was threading lightly in the 'public displays of affection' territory, not just for Finn's sake but for the club's. She didn't know just yet how that would go over in the long run. But still when she arrived at school that day, her eyes were looking for Jesse. She was almost to her locker when she heard…

"Heads up, !" Her head snapped back, all at once putting together the pieces; Karofsky's voice, and what he'd said… She knew what was about to happen, but she didn't have time to stop it, only witness it. The Slushie shot out of its cup and into the unsuspecting face. She saw Jesse stagger about in the aftershock, and her fury exploded. She stomped down the hall and straight up to the boy who still stood there, laughing at the sight of his victim.

"Hey! Back off, Karofsky, go play with your head trauma friends!" she came right up to him, staring up without flinching one bit. He wasn't backing off, but she knew she'd put something between him and Jesse that was holding him back, and that was an unhittable barrier: a girl.

"Ooh, little girl scares me…" he put his hands up with a pretend fright in his voice.

"That's right," her eyebrow went up, eyes giving menace until Karofsky finally took the 'tough guy' exit, walking away, still laughing. She glared, watching him go. Finally, she turned back to Jesse, who'd managed to find support on the lockers while he stood, incapacitated. She moved up and took hold of his arms. "Can you see?" she asked, looking at the crust of Slushie near his eyes.

"No, there's ice and corn syrup… Quinn?" he asked, and her face softened… He had to be confused.

"Yeah, it's okay, come on," she gave a light tug so he'd follow her. She wasn't done giving a piece of her mind as to Karofsky's actions, but there were more pressing matters at hand. She led Jesse into the girls' bathroom, which was thankfully empty. She moved him to sit at the edge of the window. "Here, sit down," she guided. Once he was settled, she moved to the towel dispenser, ripped off a bit and ran it under some water.

"I don't understand, how did he…" Jesse started while she squeezed out excess water. She sighed.

"We won… Apparently that makes us more of a bunch of losers than ever," she rolled her eyes, moving back over to him, carefully dabbing at his eyes. "Does that hurt?" she cringed a bit. She knew what it felt like, getting that in the eyes…

"No, it's fine… We … We won?" he frowned, which made the ice crackle. She frowned back, finding his questions more and more confusing. Still, she chuckled.

"Did the Slushie freeze your brain? Yes, we won," she nodded, then stopped when she remembered he couldn't see her. After that silence, she remembered something and her face saddened slightly. "I… I saw Finn in the hall before. He's still pretty upset, so… might be best to steer clear of him, for both of us…"

"I don't know if it's the ice, but that just makes no sense…" was Jesse's reply. Quinn just shook her head… She wasn't even going to bother with that one.

"Let's worry about your eyes first," she told him, standing back. "Can you open them?" With a crack, and a heavy dose of blinking, his eyes opened, and she smiled. She continued cleaning at his face with a sigh. "I used to think this was funny… Now I just see it as a waste of money and Slushie…" she spoke to herself, but then she saw him looking over at her, and her smile returned. She held up three fingers, but before she could ask him how many he saw, he gave the right answer. This only made her smile some more. He seemed distracted though, and she watched him give her the look over.

"Where's the…" he started, then stopped.

"Where's the what?" she was this close to checking him for a fever. She watched him pull out his phone and look at the screen… What on earth was going on with him?

"This is real…" he breathed, and she reached up to touch his cheek. He looked at her, and she had to smile again… She was concerned, and yet…

"Are you sure you're okay?" she stood back and gave her hand to help him stand. "You're not making a lot of sense… if any," she told him. He looked like his mind was in a whole other place.

"I'm okay, I… Where's, uh… Have you seen Rachel?" She blinked... who? "Rachel Berry?" he specified, and now she was recalling…

"Rachel Berry from Vocal Adrenaline? She's probably with them now," she nodded along. Now her previous rage was rumbling. "Okay, first we'll go see the nurse, then we're going to Figgins so he'll suspend Karofsky on account of brain damage, yours and his," she led Jesse back out in the hall.

There was something different about him. She couldn't explain it, but looking in his eyes there was something missing in them, something that made him the guy she'd been willing to risk it all for… IT was like he wasn't even in there…

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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